arboretum + beach

The kids had the day off on Good Friday. We had a picnic lunch at the Arboretum and participated in their fun Easter egg scavenger hunt. They had giant eggs hidden around the garden with different letters. You had to find all the eggs and then unscramble the letters to figure out the secret word. (Magnolia!) They were rewarded with their own bag of seeds. The kids loved running around looking for eggs. Oliver was a little stressed out about being the first one to find every egg. I loved having the girls join us on an adventure. Later in the afternoon we headed to Jordan Lake for some play time on the beach. Ben was able to join us which always makes things more fun (and easier on me).

Easter with cousins.

We were so excited to have my brother Dan and his family visit us over Easter. They made the long drive from Vermont and we were so happy they did! The kids loved having nearly a week of cousin time. Easter weekend was spent coloring eggs, eating lots of food, going to church, and having an egg hunt.

Easter brunch. I used a loaf of Brioche from La Farm to make this amazingly delicious salted caramel baked french toast (recipe from Smitten Kitchen). I need to make this again. Soon.

 Easter dinner. Hot buttery rolls are my weakness.

The malted chocolate toasted marshmallow cake is always a favorite. (We've made this too many times since we first tried it for Elsa's camping birthday party. The two different frostings are SO dangerously delicious.)

Easter festivities.

 I was excited to use some of our food storage wheat to grow wheat grass for decoration.

 

 Ben's parents joined us for an Easter feast on Sunday evening. The kids did an egg hunt in the backyard before dinner which was fun.

 

 I was craving one of the cakes I made for Elsa's camping birthday party. But I kept it to a more reasonable four layers. (Chocolate cake with malted chocolate frosting on the outside and toasted marshmallow frosting on the inside.)